Friday, April 30, 2010

Last week while I was grocery shopping I had a chance encounter with another mother. I was browsing the produce section at Meijer and I heard a little boy screaming "BUT I WANT IT NOW! YOU SAID I COULD HAVE IT!" I didn't pay much attention, because hearing kids crying at a store like Meijer, is not out of the ordinary. It's the price we pay for shopping at a place that has a huge toy section. I wound up looking at some produce that was right where the little boy was crying. He was about 3 or 4 years old, roughly the same age as Adelae. He was sitting on the floor at the end of the produce stand. His mother was crouched in front of him and I heard her say "I told you IF you were good, then we could go back to the toy section and see if there was anything that you would like. We are not finished with our shopping yet. When you calm down, we'll finish our shopping." She then calmly turned away and proceeded to look at some produce. It was obvious, to me, that the little boy was in a time out and mother was using the strategy very successfully. Personally, I've never been able to pull off the public time out. It makes me very nervous and embarrassed when Adelae cries in public. I'm always tempted to leave my cart sit and RUN out of the store. I've never left and I don't give into her demands, but I usually leave her sit in the cart and continue my shopping. This mother was the picture of calm. She had a little girl sitting in the cart and she was playing and laughing with the little girl and not giving her son attention for his bad behavior. I'll admit, I lingered over the produce so I could see how she handled things. As I was standing there an older lady walked past. In a matter of seconds she took in the scene. (Crying boy, mom playing with daughter seemingly ignoring crying little boy.) Then the older woman looked at me and said quite loudly "SOME people need to learn how to CONTROL their children! The supermarket is NO place for that sort of behavior." I know the other mom heard her because her face turned bright red. The older woman continued on past me. I looked at the mother of the little boy and I felt and immediate kinship. We're both mothers of preschoolers. We've both experienced the public meltdown. I'm not one to strike up conversations with random people at the grocery store, but I had to let her know that I supported her. I said "Oh boy! Some people are SO rude!" She looked at me like she was on the Titanic and I had just rescued her. We chatted for a few minutes about crabby preschoolers, public meltdowns and a few other things. You know, mom stuff. In that moment we were linked. I was her savior, so to speak. I was her lifeline. I gave her the strength to continue with her discipline strategy. In the midst of our conversation, her son calmed down and it was time for us to continue on our separate ways. I'll probably never see her again. If, by chance we did happen to be in the same place at the same time, I doubt I would recognize her. But, in that moment we were linked. We were a team. I hope that if I'm in her position, I'll be strong like she was. And some bitter old woman throws snide comments my way, I hope there's another mom to pick me back up.

Saturday, April 24, 2010

We were fortunate enough to be able to go to Kalahari about a week ago (ok it was a little longer than a week). I promised to get the pictures up and, well, life just got in the way. I'm working on a rather heavy post for (hopefully) tomorrow, but ya just never know!

We really did have a blast at Kalahari. In case you're not familiar, Kalahari is a massive indoor waterpark. We went to the one in Sandusky, OH and it was a BLAST! When we first got there and Adelae was crying and Brinna was crying I looked and Ben and said "Well, this was a waste of money." Luckily, they both warmed up to it after a bit. It took us literally forcing Adelae to go down the slides in the kids area, but it worked. She was a pro after about 5 minutes.

Brinna was a wee bit overwhelmed by all the noise and the people. She pretty much stuck with me on the sidelines while Adelae played. That was ok with both of us. I did get her to sit in the little swing and in the water with me for a bit. Surprisingly enough, she took really long naps both days we were there. At home I can't get her to sleep for more than 30 minutes at a time! They also have a fantastic dry play area for babies, which was much more Brinna's speed.

Ben got to ride lots of crazy water slides that I would never ever attempt, cause I'm a big scaredy cat. He and Adelae also LOVED the wave pool.

I am so glad that we took the time to take a little mini vacation. We're contemplating going back this summer :)

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Well, fight might be the wrong word. Ben and I are both very opinionated. We have our opinions and it's near impossible to sway either of us. This leads to a lot of little minor disagreements. Like the one that took place the other day. Let me set the stage..

Scene: A cloudy, but warm and breezy morning. Me at the computer, Ben standing in the middle of the room. Cloth diapers are in the wash.

Me: I was really hoping it would be sunny today so I could sun bleach the diapers.

Ben: That doesn't mean that you can't hang them on the line.

Me: I know that. I just wanted to sun bleach them.

Ben: You can still hang them on the line.

Me: I know I can hang them on the line. But it requires SUN to SUN bleach diapers.

Ben: No it doesn't.

Me: Are you serious? Seriously? It's called SUN bleaching. The name alone suggests the need for sun. If not, it would be called "cloud bleaching."

Ben: You can get a sunburn on a cloudy day.

Me: What on Earth does that have to do with the diapers?

Our voices are getting louder and louder through this

Ben: I'm just saying that there is sun.

Me: I know that. I just said that I wish it was sunny.

Ben: So now you're not going to hang them on the line?

Me: (shouting) I never said that. I SAID I wish is were sunny. I'll still hang them on the line.

Ben: (shouting) SO WHY ARE WE FIGHTING?

Me: (matching his tone) I DON'T KNOW!

Ben: (still shouting) WELL LET'S STOP!

Me: (shouting) OK!

Adelae: (shouting) MOMMY!

Me: (shouting) WHAT?!

Adelae: (shouting) I'M THIRSTY!

Me: Ok, let's get some juice.

See, it wasn't a fight. But, we do tend to shout a lot. However, at some point, the shouting turns to joking. So we just kinda shout cause we know how ridiculous we're being. The tone completely changes. Adelae even gets in it. I suppose anyone looking in on us would think that we were really fighting, but we know we're not. I suppose every marriage is filled with silly little conversations like this.

Sunday, April 11, 2010

I'm blogging from my phone. How crazy is that? I can vividly remember the first time I used a computer. It was in the elementary school library. There was a black screen and various vivid green numbers and letters. No mouse. You had to type in the name of the program you were looking for. I think everyone my age remembers playing Oregon Trail for hours. It was impossible to win, everyone always died no matter what you did. But man, it was FUN!

I also remember the first cell phone I saw. It was my dad's massive bag phone. The thing was enormous and weighed as much as a small child, but it was so cool! Then came the handheld cells. Again, massive, but so cool!

It amazes me how far technology has come in such a short amount of time. Back then I would have never dreamed that my cell phone would be a computer or that my computer would be a phone.

It's so crazy to see my 3 year old using a computer like a pro (well, as much of a pro as a 3 yr old can be). I can't even begin to imagine how technology will advance in the next 20 years. I'm excited to see what happens!

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Friday, April 2, 2010

You're a pretty amazing guy. Seriously. The whole water into wine thing...amazing! Feeding the masses with a few loaves and a few fish...pretty cool! But, with all the things that you did in your life I have to say that dying on the cross so my sins could be forgiven is...well...I don't really have a word for it. Awe inspiring *almost* covers it. Thank you, Jesus! Thank you!

Sincerely,A believer

Don't forget to check out Foursons for more Letters. And, as always, Happy Friday!